The invention relates to a metering device for flowable products, in particular, dairy products, comprising a metering cylinder, a valve cylinder coaxially arranged therein and connected at an upper end to the reservoir, a ring-shaped metering piston movable in the annular chamber between metering cylinder and valve cylinder between an upper intake end position and a lower dispensing end position, wherein the metering piston divides the annular chamber into an upper part connected to the product reservoir and a lower part forming the metering chamber, further comprising a mouthpiece closing the metering chamber at the bottom side with the exception of a coaxial cylindrical dispensing opening, and comprising a central valve piston movable into operating positions releasing or closing the annular chamber.
In known metering devices for liquid products (EP 0 286 785 A2), the product flows through a central valve cylinder into a metering chamber surrounding the valve cylinder; during this metering phase a dispensing opening coaxially extending in a mouthpiece at a bottom side is to be closed at the same time by a valve piston that is centrally movably arranged in the valve cylinder. For dispensing the product, the valve piston is returned axially into the valve cylinder into an opening position so that subsequently the product can be dispensed by means of a metering piston that is also axially movable in the metering chamber. These components that require a complex control result in a large outer diameter of the metering device so that the latter, when it is mounted in a substantially automatic filling device, requires a disadvantageously large space.
The invention concerns the problem of providing a metering device for flowable products that with minimal technical expenditure can be produced so as to have a slim size while enabling increased efficiency during the filling process by means of short adjusting strokes during control of its movable components provides.